


the cyclical nature of clouds

by yogurtgun



Category: Glass (2019), Split (2016)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Casey tries saving Kevin until she succeeds, F/M, Fix-It, Gen, Good Foster Parents, Time Loop, Time Travel Fix-It, cause God knows we all needed a fix it au after THAT shit show
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-10-23
Packaged: 2020-12-31 15:54:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21148301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yogurtgun/pseuds/yogurtgun
Summary: Mr. Glass wasn’t quite correct -- he didn’t make superheroes. He merely allowed them the chance to emerge. Casey's starts waking up to the same day and realises she can fix what happened -- she can make it so Kevin survives.





	the cyclical nature of clouds

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this after watching the film. This is just them being friends, like Anya said in an interview. Kindred souls. If you're looking for a shippy fic I'll be posting that one later.

### .

The inevitable truth of Casey’s universe is that tragedy must follow after any singular point of light that pokes through the perpetual grey overhang of her life, always threatening rain. Lately, she has had more sunny days then ever so a downpour should have been expected to balance it out. She hadn’t; she forgot the cyclical nature of clouds.

Kevin dies. He dies in her arms, and all the splintering possibilities that could have been with the one person that is connected to her in a visceral inseparable way, die with him. But he held onto the light, and that is supposed to be a victory. It is.

The ambulances come fifteen minutes too late, even with the hospital right there. Nobody comes to help. They wouldn’t have helped even if she begged -- she sees the footage later, when she gets home and scrubs Kevin’s blood off of her: the other man being choked in a pothole, the sniper pulling the trigger, Mrs. Price kneeling by her son.

Mr. Glass had planned it all out. A suicide mission, on his part, and a giant fuck-you to whoever didn’t want the truth of them getting out, to finally appease his own magolomaniac mind. The public _ will _ know now, soon enough. Joseph, Mrs. Price and she posted all the footage they got online, and it has slowly started picking up views; she expects doubt but those just like Kevin, just like Joseph’s dad, will know they aren’t alone.

Kevin should have known he wasn’t alone. She is glad, at least, that she was with him in the end.

Casey wraps herself in pajamas and descends onto the bed. Then she closes her eyes.

#### -

Mr. Glass wasn’t quite correct -- he didn’t _ make _ superheroes. He merely allowed them the chance to emerge.

#### -

Her phone alarm goes off and she startles awake. Without thinking, Casey heads to the bathroom to brush her teeth and hair, gets dressed, grabs her things, and goes downstairs. The house is a beehive, especially with three smaller children running around, but it’s a contrast to her old life that she appreciates. These kids are safe. These kids will never suffer, and for that she is revealed.

It’s a strange though, one she examines at the breakfast table while watching Maria and Eugene drink their coffee in tandem: Maria sips when she’s not handing the kids toasts; Eugene gulps when he’s not worrying about bacon-fat spraying. She’s gotten used to them by now. She’s gotten used to the kids too; Josie, Nico and Dylan, two seven year-olds and a six-year old.

“So, tasks for the day, Dylan, please--”

Maria begins as usual, and Casey listens as she delegates little duties to them, from picking up toys, folding their own clothes, putting away blankets. There’s a whole star-point system that works for the little ones. It’s a gentle way of getting them to do things, gentler than she’s known. She likes Maria’s gentleness which comes from nothing but toughness -- she’s been learning recently that it takes far too much strength to be soft.

Then it’s time to go to school, and she’s in class, and she feels like she’s already heard these lectures before, familiar and boring, so boring, so so so--

_ Kevin’s breath is warm, but his teeth are bloody. Her hands on his skin slip, blood-slick. There’s some strange, unexplainable loyalty, an affinity towards him, a feeling as if she needs to protect him. But she can’t do that any more than he could protect her from the Beast. He tried. And she tried. And they both failed. _

Her book falls and the thoughts disperse like a dream -- she can’t recall them no matter how hard she tries. The sense of deja vu is nauseating. It grows worse when the councilor pulls her into her office at the end of the day; the woman’s wearing yesterday’s clothes, and she sits in her chair after closing the doors behind her.

“I received a call from your foster family. Apparently it’s on the news,” she says. “They caught the guy who abducted you and murdered all those girls. They caught the bastard. Your foster family is thrilled. I can imagine how much relief this causes you. I’m sure you’ve been thinking about him.”

Casey blinks. She can feel the frown forming on her face, sentences malformed crowding her tongue but refusing to tip over into reality. “Is this a joke?” she wants to say. “What are you saying-- This happened _ yesterday _.”

Realization is quit to sink in, blood in the dirt. This _ did _ already happens. She glances down at the table, and it’s the same as before. The lessons are the same, her clothes, she realises, are the same as yesterday’s as well.

Humans have a wonderful ability: when overwhelmed they tend to focus on the arbitrary, so as to better deal with the impossible severity of another situation. Casey does what she does best: adapts.

“I _ have _been thinking about him,” she says. “I’m sorry, what date is it exactly?”

Slightly confused, the counselor replies, “The 17th.”

Casey nods in thanks and summons a smile that lingers on her face until she’s out of school, on the bus, and stepping out in front of the hospital. It’s still a shock when she sees Dr. Staple there, in her beige ensemble.

“Just because he let you go doesn’t mean he’s _ good _. He’s held here before his trial. I’m in charge of him for now but everyone in this state wants him tried and put away.”

Dr. Staple waits for a response, but Casey won’t give her any. The organisation which killed them, wanted to secret their existence away, in connected to her, and though Casey doesn’t know how or in which way, she doesn’t feel particularly friendly with her.

The silence must unsettle Dr. Staple because she continues talking in a different voice.

“I’m trying to get the others to stop thinking of this as superhuman being. If they do, they will do the right thing and keep him from the light.”

And isn’t that the catch. She wants the Hoarde to believe they are less. But if Casey helps, they might survive. Even the Beast.

“Can I talk with them?” Casey asks, because she wants, she _ needs, _ to see if Kevin is alive. If he’s _ really _ alive.

“No,” Dr. Staple says, shocked, alarmed at the request, her look bordering disgust. “Because it’s not-- you’re the victim.”

No, Casey thinks, she is a survivor. She’s refused to lay herself down on the traintracks of pity, self-deprecation and hate. Victim says weak. Victim describes what she was, for so many years, under the hands of someone who was supposed to be her family. It could have been an undisturbed pattern. If she’d not met the Beast, if she didn’t refused to be his victim, she might have never found the strength in her to push through and let her voice out -- to finally point a finger and gets some justice.

Now, in turn, the only one who she sees _ as _ victim in this equation is Kevin. She is not the Beast, but she doesn’t need to be him, or even someone like him, to try and give strength to a person she knows needs it most. She’s managed to get away from her uncle. Kevin deserves to get away from whatever keeps him stuck in his own head.

#### -

Eventually, just like before, Dr. Staple gives in. Casey trots behind her until Dr. Staple is unlocking the doors. One of the hospital hands set up the chairs, and now she deposits herself on one, shocked.

Hedwig is there again.

“No way!” he exclaims when he sees it’s her. “You tried so hard to get away from us and now you come back and see us? You are so weird.” And just like before, he continues without waiting for her to reply. “I like Drake now. I liked Nicki for a while, but then Nicki and Drake broke up, and you can't like both.”

Casey is too caught up in the swell of emotions in her to really respond. She knows this, he’s already told all of this to her yesterday. It means that everything that happens from now on, _ everything _, will result in the same end -- in Kevin dying in her arms.

“This place is for people who think that they're comic book characters. And the Horde is kind of like a comic book character name, isn't it? Love comic books,” Hedwig says, not particularly perceptive to her mood. Good. His tone takes on a guilty lilts when he adds, “I'm sorry for trying to feed you to The Beast, et cetera.”

Casey shakes her head and goes to him, touching his hand. She watches Hedwig’s shock melt into something else, someone else, and then to Kevin.

“Hey,” he says, still shocked, eyes still wide blue, surprised to know he’s alive, to see her.

And she can’t force herself to saying anything else than she already has told him before: about her uncle and about the end result. She needs him to know they’re the same, so when he asks she nods. “Yeah. We’re the same.”

Yet, he gives up the light again and in his stead Hedwig surfaces, looking at their clasped hands, saying, “Do you like Kevin now?”

“Hedwig, can I talk to Miss Patricia please?”

He narrows his eyes. “I think I’m gonna break up with you.” Then shrugs. “As long as it’s the Horde I suppose.”

The shift is obvious. The moment Miss Patricia takes over her spine straightens, posture prim and perfect, her face smoothing out, before frowning when she notices she’s holding hands with Casey. She releases her at once but Casey barely moves away.

“Hello, dear,” she says, brushing the hair from her face. “You’ve made quite a mess really, but, oh Kevin does like you.”

Casey needs to warn her. Somehow. She doesn’t know from what exactly but at least Miss Patricia is calm and rational unlike Dennis and Hedwig.

“Miss Patricia, I asked to speak with you because out of the Horde you’re the sensible one.”

Miss Patricia preens at the compliment, a little proud.

“The facts are these: you are held in this facility for three days until your sentencing. Dr. Staple has three days to convince you the Beast is not superhuman. The facts are also these: if she doesn’t succeed, on the third say you all will die.”

Miss Patricia doesn’t scoff. Instead, she just looks disappointed.

“The facts are also these: you and that other man, are superhuman. But Dr. Staple’s organisation will kill you for it. She--”

Dr. Staple’s chair grates against the floor when she pushes herself out of it. “Miss Cooke what are you saying--”

Casey continues, unbidden. “If you do not convince the others, they will kill you. Miss Patricia, I have watched you die once already. You must convince them. Lie if you have to.”

“Guards--”

“Please you have to you--”

Patricia hisses, “You could have told me this in secret. You could have--”

Casey is ripped away from the room by two strong hands carrying her out. The doors close behind her, the staccato of Dr. Staple’s heels following her all the way inside another room far too similar to Kevin’s to be anything but frightening. She’s pushed into a chair before she’s released.

This is not how she operates. Casey doesn’t put herself in danger -- this could very well be her only chance to save Kevin and now she thinks she’s trapped here as well.

Dr. Staple sits down in front of her. “How do you know about us?”

Instead of answering she says, “I don’t want him to die. Patricia, even if she believes, might lie to the others, until the Beast goes away. Until Kevin surfaces.”

“You said, in the room, that you watched Patricia, and I assume in extend, Kevin, die already. What did you mean?”

Casey remains silent.

“I know you think you’re protecting your friend, but what you just did might compromise _ everything _ . You have _ no _ idea what the stakes are here.” Dr. Staple huffs, and folds her arms in her lap once she’s done flapping with them.

But Casey doesn’t say anything else. Dr. Staple nods and says, “For your safety, I think we should keep you here.”

“What? You can’t--”

“Your foster family will be told about your breakdown. I wish we could have cooperated better Ms. Cooke.”

Dr. Staple leaves, the doors closing behind her heavy and loud. Casey hoped for a change, but not this one.

#### -

She’s processed, meaning that her information is taken, she’s given hospital clothes, and she’s locked back inside her room. Some time later, a man comes -- a worker there, one of the nurses -- and delivers her food.

“You’re one of the new nuts huh?” he asks. She looks at him until he curls his tail and goes away.

Nothing happens. Perhaps that’s the worst thing with places like this. She feels both safe and in danger at once. At least when Dennis took her she knew to be scared. She understood the stakes. Now, she doesn’t know what will happen -- if she will have to live in this new reality, if she will be stuck here and won’t even get to talk with Kevin again, if she just made everything worse.

It’s dark when she hears her doors buzzing open. Half asleep, she startles awake and sits up, putting her feet in her shoes, just in case. She sees a wheelchair, and after a moment, the man wheels himself in.

“You Casey?” the man -- Mr. Glass, she recognizes him now -- asks.

Casey nods.

“Mr. Beast over there, me and you are breaking out of this joint tomorrow. Now, I didn’t want to bring you but Miss Patricia insisted. So-- we’ll come get you, you just be good and come with, ok?”

Casey nods. So this is how Kevin escaped last time.

Mr. Glass takes a long look at her. He says, “A little bird told me you know something of this...organisation.”

“They want to kill Kevin.”

“That’s all?”

She nods. Mr. Glass does something with his face which she assumes means disappointment. He leaves after that. In the morning Dr. Staples visits her again, and asks the same questions: how does she know about the organisation, who told her, and when she can’t get anything out, she turns matters personal.

“Your foster family is worried for you. They thought you were handling everything well. Did you talk with someone, about what your uncle did to you?”

Casey opens her mouth, but not to answer. “Why are you concerned that I know about you people? You shouldn’t, if you think you’re doing the right thing.”

Dr. Staple smiles, shaking her head. “What do you mean by that?”

“You want to convince the Horde that the Beast is nothing special. I want him to survive. Our goals are similar.”

“And when the Beast _ is _ removed? What do you think should happen them?” Dr. Staple asks.

Casey senses a trick in the question so she remains quiet until Dr. Staple shakes her head. “You don’t know. That, or you know it’s not possible. You would like for Kevin to go free very much, wouldn’t you? But he’s still responsible for a _ lot _ of people dying Casey -- it doesn’t matter that he wasn’t in control. He would still be sentenced.”

Casey decides that if anyone’s convinced themselves into believing anything, it’s that Dr. Staple’s convinced herself she’s doing the right thing and nobody’s tried to tell her otherwise.

#### -

Just as Mr. Glass said he would, her door buzzes open and she is ready to walk right out of the hospital. She notes, however, that Kevin still isn’t there.

“No worries, sweet-cheeks, we’re getting him next,” Mr. Glass says.

The contraption in Kevin’s room is borderline torture. But it’s not Kevin, Hedwig, nor even Dennis who greets them, but someone named Luke. Other personalities she didn’t even know about beyond glancing over their names on that computer, so long ago already, flash before her eyes until the image finally settles on Hedwig who stops, looks at her and says, “Yeah. You’re totally weird.”

“Can we go now, love birds?”

They follow after Mr. Glass. Casey doesn’t ask where they’re going.

As they walk, Hedwig says, “Miss Patricia says you were trying to warn us, and that I should say thank you.” They go inside a room, and Hedwig let’s go of her hand. “You know, I wouldn’t be mad even if you _ did _ like Kevin. I mean, we’re all here for Kevin you know?”

“Thanks, Hedwig.”

The boy smiles, and then Mr. Glass says, “It’s time. You ready?”

Hedwig nods and takes off his top, before he starts convulsing. It’s a familiar sight. Still, a chill goes down her spine. She hasn’t seen the Beast since he let her go. She has a scar of his teeth on her leg, and an image of him burned in her mind, and though he carries scars of her own making -- she’d hurt him, she’d left a mark, she _ did _ that and _ survived _ \-- the sight of him is worse than she remembered, frightening, awe-inspiring, amazing all at once.

The Beast inhales and his eyes pierce through her when he lifts his head up. Muscles ripple across his torso as he stalks over to her, hot breath against her face, as if he’s sniffing her. After a moment she realizes he probably is.

“Casey,” a growl comes from his lips. “Do you not believe anymore?”

“I believe,” she replies, dead-set on not responding. She can’t show weakness, not here, not now, and even as she trembles she makes sure her voice is even and quiet, and she doesn’t look him in the eyes.

“Then why did you want my Horde to lie?”

He grabs her by the chin, she supposes, with what is aimed to be gentle but which misses the mark by a mile. Her neck protests he wrenches it up, forcing her to look him in the eye.

“If the Horde pretended you weren’t there, you would have stayed alive.” At least, Casey thinks, for another day. At least until the sentencing. At least, until they threw you in a hole in the world to let you rot away. She realises that the thought upsets her -- realises too now that she is aware that she can’t let that happen.

He grabs her hand, tugs it up, pushes it against his bare chest where his heart beats wild and hard. “I am _ still _ alive. I _ must _ be here. I am necessary.”

She touches the hand forcing her neck up and, surprisingly, it gentles enough that she can lower it. “That’s why I said lie.”

“And what’s the point of that?” Mr. Glass cuts in. “He would start back up again, kidnapping and killing girls, and this time they’d just shoot him dead.”

Casey doesn’t reply. She _ has _ no reply -- she didn’t consider that. The Beast’s attention wavers and he lets her go, focus shifting to Mr. Glass, as if hazing him, testing him, and she watches and wonders where all this will go.

She doesn’t have to wait too long. A man dies. Then, when they’re down in the basement, security men die. She’s stuck to the Beast’s side until he growls at her to go, that he can take care of it. She steps away, but only just. There’s a certain sort of madness to finding safety in him when faced with a common danger -- a common enemy.

Blood seeps into the ground. The Beast snarls at her, then lays a hand pushing her back towards the tunnels, to hurry after Mr. Glass.

“He’s lying. He won’t have you show your face at the Kyoto tower.” The Beast halts. He turns, watches, expectant. “He’ll have you fight the Overseer right in front of the hospital. He’ll record everything. You’ll die here.”

“I will not be beat by the Overseer.”

She shakes her head. “It will be a bullet.”

“Bullets do very little, as you can see,” the Beast says, looking almost proud of his scars.

“It’s not about bullets, it’s about Mr. Glass using you,” she says, frustrated. “The same train Kevin’s father took, the train that crashed, is the same one the Overseer survived. Mr. Glass orchestrated the crashing. He wanted to make superheroes.”

The beast, strangely, goes dormant and she sees Dennis swimming out into the light. “I knew something-- all this violence, this killing--” Miss Patricia takes over then, tutting, “you really can’t be lying to us like this, alright darling?”

Casey, angry now, says, “I. Do not. Lie.”

Miss Patricia looks at her for a long moment. Then she asks, “Then what should we do? We won’t be _ safe _ with these people after us.”

“We should run. Just. Just run.”

Miss Patricia presses her lips into a thin line. Her concerned expression suddenly shifts, and Dennis is back in the light. “We’re going out on a limb here, alright?” he looks down at her. “At least you’re not dirty.”

Leaving Mr. Glass behind in the control room from where, Casey assumes, he’d sent out that footage and the voice message to his mother, Joseph, and her, they run down the decline. Dennis holds her wrist, tugging her to run until they’re at the end of the basement tunnel which spills into the front yard. Two women have just exited a truck, and they run at the sight of them. But that’s not the issue.

“Get in,” Dennis says and Casey does as told.

However, he doesn’t get to the driver’s seat in time. They stayed too long. Lingered at the wrong moments. The metal of the van dents with either the Beast’s -- and she can hear him, she knows it’s him -- and the Overseer’s fists. She flies to the small, shielded window, and sees the police advancing. Nothing has really changed.

When the doors of the truck open it’s not the Beast. Instead, the Overseer opens the door, in a mistaken attempt at rescue, and says, “Come on get out.”

Casey hops out. She doesn’t know how to drive, never got the chance to learn, and now she can’t regret it enough. She watches, from the side, as the Beast beats the officers until they’re all bloody -- blood is everywhere, now even on the Overseer who tries fighting him again.

Casey sees more cars driving up and she knows just where this is headed. Yet, she can no more let the Beast go kill hundreds, thousands, in the Kyoto tower than she can stop all of this from happening.

She watches as the Beast throws the Overseer into the tank filled with water. No, she thinks, nothing has changed. She goes to him then and says his name. It’s not a flash, it’s a struggle to get him out, but Kevin is in front of her again and that seems to be all that matters.

“Hey,” she says, “can you drive us out of here?”

Kevin smiles, and nods, and then he’s Dennis, throwing himself in the driver’s seat and starting up the engine. There’s another path to the hospital the police haven’t blocked and they speed away.

“Please fasten your seatbelt,” Dennis says, halfway through, and Casey is overcome with an urge to laugh, so strong she barely supressess it.

When Dennis pulls over it’s not a familiar scene; Casey’s never been in this district. All the production warehouses have been closed for at least ten years, and as far as she knew, it was populated by the homeless.

Dennis shudders at the mere sight of the buildings and tells her, “I can’t be here.” The light is handed back to Hedwig who says, “Come on,” and takes her to a warehouse. One of the break rooms has been converted into a sort of living space out to where, she presumes, they were living.

“That was crazy man! Should have seen Mr. Glass’s expression when we were leaving. Hey what do you think will happen to him now?”

Casey folds herself in one of the chairs at the small plastic break room table.

“Truthfully -- I don’t know.”

Hedwig smiles, and the smile turns cold and calculated. Miss Patricia emerges, and sits across from her. “Now, now,” she says. “What do you _ think _?”

“He’ll die. But he was right. If the Horde continues, you’ll be found again.”

“We will not hide and be hunted,” Miss Patricia says, vicious. “Oh no. We’re the one who hunt.”

“A lot of people have died already.”

“And more will die. More _ have _ to die.”

Casey doesn’t understand and now she wishes Miss Patricia had explained anything to her. “What for? What are you striving for?”

Miss Patricia laughs. “Vengeance, silly. Visibility. And punishment.”

Casey screws her eyes shut. She feels as if she’s missed something. Perhaps she’s been missing it from the start. She feels, in that moment, tired and quite defeated.

“Can I talk to Kevin, please?”

She looks at Miss Patricia who frowns. “I can ask.”

When she watches her head jerk, she reaches across the desk reaches for his hands, just in time to see Kevin emerging. “Oh. It’s you. Casey. You’re--”

There’s something honest in his tentative smile, pouring out of his eyes, as if she’s the best thing he’s seen in years. So she lets go of his hands and wraps her arms around him, and buries her head in his shoulder.

She doesn’t want him to die. She can’t have him die. Hedwig, Patricia, the Beast, they’re all well, but she knows now, she’s confirmed it, that it’s Kevin that she knows she really cares for.

“Oh,” he says, a little broken, a little lost. “This is nice.”

“I wish,” she says, “I knew how to help you.”

She jerks, feeling something connects with her shoulder. She steps away just as the pain blooms, and she sees a matching red wound on his chest. He staggers, and she holds him as they collapse onto the floor, shot.

She watches the same show-- Miss Patricia surfaces, saying, “Should have known-- didn’t think this through did you?” Dennis and his, “I shouldn’t have trusted you--” Hedwig’s cry of pain, and then its Kevin again.

“You’re--you’re my friend, right?”

She nods and cries. Kevin dies in her hands again, still holding onto the light. She falls into the darkness not too long after.

#### -

Her phone alarm goes off and she startles awake. Then she wakes up to it again, and again, and again. One morning, she tries heading to the hospital directly. Another, she confronts Dr. Staple immediately, just to see what she will say, and later she sticks with Mr. Glass until she finds out the organisation’s name is Clover and that Mr. Glass had known about it all along.

Ultimately, what she knows to be true is that she just doesn’t have enough time with Kevin.

Casey wonders, one morning, why she’s even trying. She doesn’t condone what the Beast does -- too many people died. Privileged, maybe, like Claire and Marcia were privileged, but she doesn’t see any rhyme or reason in the Beast’s slaughter. She doesn’t want Josie, or Nico or Dylan to suffer just to have a fighting chance to survive the Beast -- she wishes they never have to go through anything even a shadow of what she went through.

Avenge us, the Beast said. The beast, she thinks, is nothing but all the pain put on boil and reduced into revenge. A bodach of vengeance given form. But that violence is misdirected. Wouldn’t it be better, that the Beast give hope to those like her, give strength? Wouldn’t it be better if he, and the Overseer, and even Mr. Glass, could take down the Clover? Wouldn’t it be fairrer if the Beast ripped apart those who abused their power, who twisted the definition of normal -- wouldn’t it be better if he punished those like her uncle, like Kevin’s mother?

She doesn’t have a wound from that gunshot. She tries, and she can’t leave herself messages. Next time she sees him, Kevin doesn’t remember her. Everything, it seems, except her memories, resets. Her actions are inconsequential.

Whatever happens, whatever she says, she is either kept in the hospital or let go, and she ends up either running away with Mr. Glass and Kevin, or she finds them on the front lawn. Even when they run away with the same truck, somehow Clover always manages to track them down. Once, she tries letting the Beast go to the Kyoto tower. He gets there. He kills dozens, maybe thousands. Then the Clover moves in, flashes bright lights just like in the hospital room, and when it’s someone else, Hedwig maybe, they kill him.

No matter what happens, she receives the footage at the end of the day, and she talks with Joseph and Mrs. Price, and they always publish a video. Afterwards, Dunn security is closed, but Joseph lets her in anyway and gives her his chair. He’s lost his father. Casey’s lost Kevin. She supposes it’s not the same and yet.

“I need to tell you something,” she says, because she needs to tell someone. He won’t remember in the morning anyway,

“What?”

“I’ve been stuck in a loop. I’ve lived these past two days, nine times already.”

His expression goes crooked, confused, a little horrified. “What?”

“Every time I try something else. And every time, he dies. They all die.” She leans back, shakes her head. “I don’t know what to do anymore, what to change.”

She’s done everything that comes to mind. Something, inevitably, goes wrong. She isn’t enough to stop this, all this _ hell _ from happening. Casey cries. It’s easier to clear her head afterwards.

Joseph looks at her for a long moment. Then he says, “When’s the next loop coming?”

Casey looks at the computer’s clock.

“In a couple of minutes.”

“Next time,” Joseph says, “Find me first. Maybe I can help. Maybe nobody has to die.”

Casey didn’t consider that up until now. She nods. Then she blinks, and her eyes stay glued together.

#### -

Casey wakes up. She screams in her pillow. Then she gets up, gets dressed, and goes to breakfast.

There are two busses she needs to change until she’s standing in front of Dunn Security. It’s open, thankfully. Joseph is behind the counter, looking dejected. She hasn’t known him for long, not a lot at all, but she knows he loves his dad, and that should count for something.

When he sees her he walk to her and says, “Hi, can I help you?”

She gives him a small smile. “Your father’s stuck in that hospital.”

His face shifts, closing off. “I’m sorry I don’t know--”

“Your father is the Overseer. He’s in that hospital with Mr. Glass, the man who orchestrated the crash of his train.”

Joseph crosses his hands. “What do you want?”

“On that train was a man named Cumb. He was Kevin’s dad. He died on that train. Kevin is also stuck in the hospital.”

Realization dawns on Joseph’s face. “Kevin is the Horde?”

She nods. “I’ve tried to get him out--”

“Wait, wait, you tried to get a mass-murdered out?”

She sighs in frustration. “We need to talk about this. At length.”

They go to the back after he closes the shop early and she explains about Kevin’s DID, how the Horde and the Beast function and why they exist in the first place. She also explains the loop.

“Wait so,” he says, “you’ve already done this?”

She shakes her head. “Not this. This is the first time I’m asking for help. I’ve tried telling Kevin immediately, tried rushing in, tried confronting Dr. Staple, but it seems, the more I deviate from what the day is supposed to be, the worse the consequences. Kevin always ends up dying.”

“And my dad?”

She nods. “Mr. Glass organized it all for the world to see. Clover wants to keep superhuman people hidden. It kills them to keep reality what we all know it to be. What we all _ think _ it is.”

Joseph gives that a moment to sink in. Then he asks, “So, what usually goes wrong?”

“Clover, eventually, ends up finding us. The Beast should be impervious to bullets but. He’s not always the Beast. And he can’t always _ be _ the Beast.”

“Do you want him to be the Beast?”

She shakes her head. “I want him to be Kevin.”

Joseph sighs.

“So, alright. Maybe we need to figure out this Clover thing. At least, wherever you went before would be compromised so they know where to lie in wait for you. How many times have you done this-- nine you said?”

She nods.

“Can you keep memos?”

She shakes her head. “Just my memory I’m afraid.”

He nods. Then he cracks his knuckles. “Alright. So, we need to do research on the Clover: who are they, how they meet, talk, what they’re about. Everything.”

#### -

Joseph does as much research as he can, but the fact remains that he doesn’t have enough time. They talk over the phone while she’s in bed. He tells her what he has and says, “I need you to remember how I found this information ok?” He tells her so they can continue in the next loop.

  
She falls asleep. She wakes up in the morning to her alarm going off. She dresses and heads for Dunn Security. It’s a dance she does twice more before Joseph says, “Maybe it would be easier just following Dr. Staple? Her laptop must have something.”

So, in the morning, she dresses and goes to her office. She hasn’t seen Kevin and she needs to, somehow, reassure herself he hasn’t floated away, even if it’s Hedwig, shouting the same sentence at her, like a bad actor. “No, way!” he says, and she smiles because she’s missed him.

Softly she scoots her chair over, takes his hand, and watches Kevin emerge. “Hey. It’s you. You look different.”

“Hello, Kevin. I need to tell you something.”

No matter how many times she repeats it, it’s worth remembering her uncle just to see his face light up, saying, “We’re the same?”

“Yes,” she replies. “We’re the same.”

#### -

Following Dr. Staple after hours isn’t easy. She manages to make sure which of the brownstones is hers before she heads back there later in the morning, when she’s sure Dr. Staple would be in the office.

Joseph, through an earpiece he’d given her the night before, instructs her to go to the back yard. Breaking and entering isn’t so difficult, when you’re not afraid of repercussions or being seen, and learning from Joseph’s questionable skillset had been easy enough. She finds herself in the kitchen of the brownstone. From there, she creeps through the house, past the dining room, past the library, until she spots the laptop in Dr. Staple’s study. Too bad she couldn’t get to her phone. She searches for other electronics but doesn’t find anything, so she heads back to Dunn security with the laptop.

Eventually, he busts through the password, while she’s trying to eat lunch and failing not to feel her gut twist every time his chair creeks.

“There are _ a lot _ of files here. This will take,” he glances at her, “hours to get through.”

She shrugs. “I have time.”

#### -

Casey feels a terrible sense of urgency when she remembers that Kevin will be dying alone. Then she sits up in the chair and goes back to reading.

#### -

Dr. Staple’s laptop has more encrypted files than the pentagon but it gives her the explanations she needs. The Clover are everywhere: government, school, law enforcement, entertainment. She doesn’t know how they originated, but she knows they all bear the same mark in recognition, and she learns they have meetings at certain locations, at certain times, where they agree on the further course of action -- a live judging a live execution.

The Clover has been doing this for years. They have killed, if Dr. Staple’s records are to show, more than ten thousand people. It’s ten thousand superhumans she never knew, and will never meet. She has a list of those who were killed, and a list of those who are targeted; Dr. Staple has not managed to save one for the seven years she’s been trying.

The Clover seems to have some kind of communication center, but Joseph can’t track it down. Casey tries to learn more, but without a phone its difficult. She will have to work on it.

One promising information she finds is that, while the number of members is large, Clover is concentrated in metropolitan areas.

“Is there a way,” she asks Joseph later, “for us to somehow connect to this laptop when it’s updated, a tracking bug or something, see and download files?”

“With internet these days you can pretty much do anything,” he replies. Casey smiles. That’s at least one good thing to hear.

#### -

There are things Casey has always wanted to do: finish high school, move from Philadelphia, go hunting again. Somehow, she never though she’d live to her 18th birthday, much less the end of high school, and now that the former has happened she knows the latter isn’t much further away. Hunting, despite everything, she still likes. As for moving, that’s a distant wish -- when she’s earned enough money she’d want to buy a house somewhere in Colorado, up a mountain and away from people. There could be a small town -- people would only know her for who she showed them to be, not who they remember her being. She wants to connect, but in the right way, in a way she allows, in a manner she controls. She wants her narrative to be in her own hands, not pre-colored by expectations.

Casey also wants to learn how to drive. She wants to try going to a party or a concert, and she wants to check up on Maria and Eugene, even after she moves out. She wants to know what Dylan, and Josie, and Nico are up to. But she also wants a quiet house, filled with peace, and solitude. She wants to watch fireflies. She wants to try climbing a mountain.

She knows, some things, she will have to give up.

#### -

The kids are in the living room, spending time watching their daily two-hour dose of TV when Casey comes in. Eugene peaks out from the kitchen -- he must be fixing dinner -- and says, “Oh hey, Casey. You’re a bit late, did something happen in school?”

He pops his head back into the kitchen -- off limits only when the oven is on and the knives are out. She takes the time to take off her shoes, hang up her jacket, and put down her backpack before she joins him.

“Where’s Maria?”

“Went to check on mama. Think she’ll be back home soon.” His eyes are somehow knowing when they look at her. “What’s up?”

Eugene, very well into his fifties, has managed to make himself appear as if he didn’t powerlift most of his life. It’s the long sleeved shirts, the baggy pants, and definitely the greying hair. She’d been curious and Maria has always been a talker, Eugene brags about his life in Moscow sometimes anyway, so she supposes she should be surprised at his intuitivness. Perhaps he would have been, before. Now, she knows people generally come in opposites. Kevin, for one, and the Beast that’s his opposite. Dennis, tightlaced, representative of the 9-to-5 cubicle worker who, if anyone else saw him, would think was perfectly functional.

“I wanted to talk with you and her about something important.”

Eugene looks back to the stovetop where he’s making what appears to be gravy. “They told you in school, then.” For all of his years living in America, Eugene’s accent only softened.

“They did.”

“Well,” Eugene says after a moment spent in silence. “We can talk after dinner if you’d like.”

Casey doesn’t have to wait that long. She can hear the car parking outside, and the doors opening. Maria saunters in looking a little worse for the wear, as usual when she’s with her mother, but she still smiles when she comes to say hello.

Eugene gives her a look which Maria ricochets off to her, and her smile subsides, the atmosphere growing tentative.

“Are you okay, honey?” she asks Casey. “Is this about the news?”

“Can we sit down?” Casey replies.

Eugene turns off the burner and set the pan aside. He cleans his hands while Maria takes off her jacket and set down the snacks she bought for the kids on the way back, and they find themselves in their usual seats at the table.

She’s been thinking how to talk to them about this. It’s not about the results; with the loop she knows she will have to do this at least once more again. No, it’s about the way she can put it.

In the end, Casey starts with, “It’s not about the news. Actually, a friend offered me to move in with her recently.”

“Oh,” Maria says. Both Eugene and her look relieved. “Well, you know we’d love you to stay until you’re finished with high school.”

“Does your friend live nearby?” Eugene asks.

“No, actually. I’d have to move. Which is why I wanted to talk with you.” Casey folds her hands into her lap and take a deep breath. “I’d be moving to another state. But I’ve always wanted to finish high school, so I’ve decided to look into online options.”

“Can’t you just wait to finish it just...the regular way?”

Casey shakes her head. “I’ll be leaving soon. Tomorrow, or the day after. But I’d like to sign up for the online classes from here. I’ll be easier if you got my mail until my friend and I figure it out.”

She can see the way Eugene’s eyes narrow, the way Maria’s hand shifts as if to grab his leg. Eugene has probably been naturally suspicious most of his life, but Casey’s sure working with foster kids that he can smell bullshit a mile wide.

But, at least, there’s no yelling, no arguing, and no temper. Just Maria’s soft voice saying, “That all very soon. Are you certain about this?”

“Yes,” Casey says, unwavering.

“Well then we can figure out the online classes tomorrow. I’d..well I’d at least like to know who this friend of yours is, if you don’t mind. We’d love to stay in contact with you.”

Casey considers it. Then she says, “Her name is Jade. She’s a diabetic so she needs a bit of help around the house.”

“Oh, how did you meet?”

Casey looks at Eugene and his knowing face, and she goes silent. Maria looks to Eugene, before to Casey and sighs.

“Look,” she says, “you’re eighteen now. You’re officially an adult and you can make your own decisions. I, and I think Eugene is on this with me, just want you to make the best one.”

“Thank you,” Casey says and hopes that heartbreak isn’t in her voice. “But I’ve already sat on this for some time. It’s best, I think, to move away and leave this all behind. Start fresh.”

Something like realization dawns on both of their faces. Casey realizes they must think she’s running away from her truma -- Maria is a social worker, she knows how these things usually go. She doesn’t correct their assumption. Instead, she sits a little at the table with them, drink some coffee, and helps set the table for dinner.

#### -

Casey steals Dr. Staple’s phone. Cloning it only takes minutes. One time she’s discovered, another she isn’t. Consequences don’t really vary too much from the known.

#### -

The next time she finds herself in Dr. Staple’s office she asks, “Would it matter, if I promised I would keep Kevin grounded? The Horde would listen to me. We’d go far, far away.”

“We don’t have that kind of insurance. And you’re still in high-school, even though you’ve legally an adult.”

High-school is near the end as well. She would have needed only a couple more months.

She leaves and when Kevin dies, alone and afraid, Casey follows Dr. Staple down to a restaurant. She walks in, sits down, and shows her fake clover tattoo. She notices the cameras in the corners -- good, Joseph will be able to track everyone’s face later. A database of villains will be useful later.

Dr. Staple startles when she sees her. “This whole time?”

Casey knows that there are databases of names of killed ones, and those that are targeted. Just like she says, when a hero emerges, a villain has to follow. But this is not Casey’s fight. She is neither.

“How else to make sure?”

#### -

She’s met Kevin seventeen times now. Each time, she knows, he’s worth it. Worth _ all _ of it. She remembers the moment when she’d called to him and he’d controlled the Beast, the worst of them, and said, “Kill me.”

Everyone wants to live. And yet. For her, he said, kill me. They’re the same, the two of them. Only, Kevin has yet to stop blaming himself for things out of his control that have happened long before the Beast came into the picture. She can give him time and support. She has to believe that will be enough.

There’s something inside her that she felt grow when the Beast was done with her. Something had been inside her from the beginning. The Beast smelled it, saw it, felt it. Perhaps that’s what Mr. Glass is talking about, when he talks about superheroes. She doesn’t have his mind, and she doesn’t have the Beast’s strength but here she is, in a loop, again.

She wants to win. She wants to bring Kevin somewhere safe. She wants, eventually, to get to know him. This isn’t love. Not any particular, terrible definition of it. This is a bond of the broken, a recognition, respect, this is her putting a hand in the fire for herself too. If she could lock up her uncle, she can help Kevin grow too. She grew. He can too. And he can still be extraordinary.

Their souls have known each other for a very long time; kindred spirits always recognize each other.

#### -

Her phone alarm goes off and she startles awake. She gets ready and heads for Dunn Security. If she does everything right, this will be the final time she’s in a loop, so she takes her things -- she has always had a habit of packing for emergencies.

Joseph, like so many times before, looks dejected when she walks inside. But she has little time to spare so she heads to him, shakes his hand and says, “Hello, Joseph, I’m Casey. I have a plan to get your father out.”

As always it takes explaining, but Joseph, as always, eventually gets on her team. The plan is simple, but sometimes simple works best.

“I won’t have a lot of time so you will have to get Dr. Staple’s laptop,” she says. “I’ll swap the phones today.”

“I...what if I fuck up?” Joseph asks.

She looks at him. “Please try not to. But if you do, then we’ll just give it another go.”

He looks at her for a moment longer, then shakes his head and gives her an earpiece. She keeps it in her bag during the ride back to the hospital. The doors are now familiar as she enters, and Dr. Staple’s face has grown from beautiful to ill with familiarity.

They sit in her office.

“I’m surprised that you came.”

“I wanted to know why he’s being held in this institution.”

“Ah, yes, well,” Dr. Staple says, “You see I was given three days to convince him to give up this illusion of being superhuman. It’s the only way to save him.”

“As long as the Horde believes the Beast is superhuman, they will support him. But there are others, who I can reach, who don’t.”

“I hadn’t realized that you two had grown so close.”

Casey remains quiet on the topic. They haven’t, not really, not in any way that matters in this moment because Kevin has forgotten all of it. Instead she says, “The Horde can be overwhelmed only by Kevin, and I can reach him. I want to help him, and help you.”

Dr. Staple smiles. Once, she would have even called it kind.

#### -

Hedwig is in the light, in the beginning, as always.

“No way,” he starts, as always.

“Hello Hedwig. I’m afraid I don’t have much time. Do you think I can talk with Miss Patricia?”

“Oh, boring...fine.”

His demeanour shifts and at once, instead of the boy, Miss Patricia’s drawing an eyebrow up and looking at her. “Hello, dear. You’re looking better.”

“Miss Patricia, do you speak to the Beast, directly?”

“In a way.”

“Kevin’s father was on the 177 train. The train crashed. The man who orchestrated the crash is also in this facility.”

He watches Miss Patricia blink, suddenly growing so still Casey thinks she might leap at her throat.

“His name is Mr. Glass. He thinks he’s superhuman but in fact,” she says, holding her eye, “He’s just like me.”

Miss Patricia calms, and blinks. She cocks her head. “Like you?”

Casey nods. This is why she wanted Miss Patricia -- she’s whip smart.

“Yes, just like me.” She winks. “Normal. He is smart, smart like Einstein, but he’s not superhuman. And that other man, the Overseer, he is strong but. We are all alike.”

She folds her hands into her lap, touching the place where the clover tattoo is on Dr. Staple. “Just like Dr. Staple. Anger, adrenaline, can cause amazing power, but that too is just human. Miss Patricia, you know that the _ only _ way you can get out of here is if you give up the light--”

She winks again.

“--and let Barry, and Jade, and Kevin, surface. Remember, when I was in your kitchen, and you were making me a sandwich? Remember what you said? KT(some movie line)”

He watches as Miss Patricia’s face crumbles. “Oh, oh!” she says into her hands, as if she’s going to start to weep. Moved, Casey reaches out, touching her . And then, she watched Kevin emerge all over again.

“Oh,” he says, “It’s you.”

“It’s me,” she reassures him. “Hello Kevin.”

“You look better.”

“I’m not afraid, for once. You know, thanks to you, my uncle is in jail now. And I’m safe now, with a normal family.”

She watches the softness of his face,his pale, glowing blue eyes, and the way they glisten when he says, “We’re the same?”

“We’re the same, Kevin.”

This time, Hedwig doesn’t take over. This time, Kevin doesn’t leave. Their arms are folded together, and Kevin cries, shakes, trembles, until Casey wraps him in a hug and his hands are around her at once.

She rubs his back, says, “There you go, there you go. I got you.”

“They’re quiet,” he says, “They’re finally quiet.”

Casey doubts that will last for long. Miss Patricia must have understood her meaning, or must be talking with others.

After a while, he stops sobbing, and they just rock gently back and forth. Casey hears the doors opening, and when she glances back, Dr. Staple has left.

She presses her mouth to his ear and says, “Kevin, I need you to listen to me closely. Dr. Staple and the people she’s working for are going to kill you. She has three days to change your mind. Pretend. Lie. Deceive. Survive.”

He has stiffened in her arms. “That’s what you and me are. Survivors.”

She knows someone else is hugging her when he puts a hand higher on her shoulder but stiffens at the same time, as if he’d rather be anywhere else. “Casey,” he says, “We got it.”

“Mr. Glass will try to make you fight the Overseer on the front lawn. He wants to show the world you exist. But you all die that way.”

“I’m not going to let--”

“Dennis,” she snaps, “I am like you. I’ve lived this day too many times. Don’t trust Mr. Glass, but when he breaks you out, follow him. The other man should join you as well. Try not to fight him, he’s on our side -- he was on that train too, he was the only survivor. He too is just like us. ”

He hears the doors buzzing open and hears in her ear a british, “Good girl.”

“Alright,” Dr. Staple says, “Casey, I know it’s difficult, but the time is up. Kevin, please let go of her.”

Miss Patricia unwinds her arms from her. The moment she steps away, Patricia shifts and Hedwig’s back in the light.

“Kevin’s tired now,” he says, somewhat subdued, looking for all eyes like a sulking child. “Miss Patricia’s talking with all of us now. I gotta go too.”

When he opens his eyes he looks at her, recognizes her, and there’s a relieved little sight that escapes him. “Honey, it’s me, Barry.”

Casey nods. At this point, she’s grown too familiar with the other three to really know how to behave. But Barry doesn’t pay much mind to her silence. He puts his hands on his hips and says, “I’m finally back into the light, thanks to you, sweetheart. I really appreciate it.”

“Miss Cooke,” Dr. Staple warns and Casey picks herself up.

“I’ll be seeing you,” she says, before she leaves.

#### -

Casey’s done it so many times now, she knows how to swap Dr. Staple’s phone. It’s during the wait while the woman gets her tea to “calm her down” and they sit in her office and talk again.

“That was amazing, Casey,” she says. “True, honest affection is what he needs to fight the beast. I need you, please, with you this is going to work.”

Casey nods. “Of course. I’ll be here tomorrow.”

“Good,” she says. “Good. But. Can I just ask-- how _ did _ you know that Kevin would be connected to Mr. Price?”

That’s new. Casey blinks. “The accident is a matter of public record. And after I was taken...I don’t leave things to chance anymore, Doctor. And I already had Kevin’s name.”

Dr. Staple, satisfied with that, walks her to the front doors of the hospital and waves at her when she gets into the taxi.

#### -

Joseph, over the earpeace, later tells her that he managed to visit his dad as well. They are ready for tomorrow.

#### -

There are three drive-ups to the hospital. The main two that split from the Hanover Avenue and form a loop are generally used by the hospital and visitors. The third route, the one Dennis had driven down in one of her first attempts in saving Kevin, splits from the Avenue earlier. The hospital is barely visible from it, considering it’s surrounded by houses and trees, and one has to pass through a parking lot to get to the left wing of the hospital. That’s the route the cleaning crew takes. That’s the route Joseph and Casey take early in the morning.

Joseph pulls up by the curb in a rented car and Casey hops out to pop the hood. They’ve prepared the cables and she stands in front, waiting for the cleaning crew van to come in view. She’s tried this once before. It ought to work.

At six in the morning there’s barely anyone up, and definitely few cars. She hears the engine of the van before she sees it, and Casey calculates just the time to wave her hand and show the start cables. After an indecisive moment, the van pulls up next to them.

“What’s wrong, honey?” asks the woman on the passenger’s side.

“Do you mind giving us a jump? The car’s dead.”

The woman on the passenger’s seat nods but it’s the driver that jumps out of the van. Good. Joseph, who’s stood by the popped open hood, pretending for all the world that he was tinkering with something, moves to take the cables while Casey goes to talk to the co-driver.

“Thanks, sorry about this.” She gets closer until she’s just under the opened window. “I told him we needed a jump but you know how men are.”

The woman laughs. “A man used to drive me and Ally before. Madman, I tell you. Good riddance.”

Casey smiles and grabs hold of a spray bottle in the pocket of her hoodie. She whips it out and cover her mouth quickly, before she sprays the woman with a concoction of chemicals Dennis had so liberally used on her the first time they met. The woman starts coughing but slumps soon enough.

There’s a similar sound of spraying from the front of the car before she hears Joseph calling out, “A little help here, Casey, please?”

They put the women in the rented car, careful not to hurt them, and take their keys and keycards. They won’t be waking for a couple of hours.

Joseph and Casey hop into the liberated van, and then it’s only a matter of a five minute drive to the hospital. Joseph parks just in front of the doors of the basement service tunnels. She takes a deep breath -- she can’t linger any longer than that. There is no fear in her. No nerves. If she fails, she can do this again, until she goes crazy.

She glances at Joseph and reaffirms their plan by repeating, “Stay here.” There were times when he didn’t listen. She needs him in that driver’s seat.

Joseph, thankfully, nods. “Got it.”

Without wasting any more time, Casey puts on her dust mask and hops out and slips into the basement tunnels.

Ahead of her is the control room with three guards and monitors for all the cameras around the hospital. She knocks on the doors. After a moment, they swing open and a man sticks his head out. Casey wastes no time spraying him. He drops to the ground, alarming the other two, and Casey has to maneuver herself to get the second one. The third guard sees her clearly, but she just has to kick him when he reaches for her before praying him as well. The thing about expectations is that they never prepare you for what’s actually happening -- the men didn’t expect her instead of the cleanup crew, and they certainly didn’t expect to be sprayed in the face with anything.

Casey leaves them asleep, stacked one over the other, knowing she’s going to be late if she lingers. Her step is fast, heartbeat quick, knowing what’s to come. Then, in the distance, just around the bend, she sees Miss Patricia wheeling Mr. Glass. Next to her, Joseph’s father trots, looking disgruntled.

She runs. It’s a stupid thing to do, it’s senseless, but she feels as if she hasn’t seen Kevin’s face in an age. The smirk on Miss Patricia’s face is telling -- she knows. The closer Casey gets, however, the more she realises the twist of her lips isn’t cruel, but somehow self-satisfied, maybe proud, as if she wasn’t sure about what Casey had said, and only now got confirmation she needed.

“You shouldn’t run in the hallways, dear,” Miss Patricia says in lieu of greeting her, eyes raking over Casey as if judging her baggy jeans, hoodie, and tied hair. She adds, “Learned a thing or two I see.”

Casey smiles behind the dust mask. She learned, indeed.

Mr. Glass takes a look at her when she steps forward. He doesn’t note the mask over her face. Considering Kevin’s condition, she isn’t surprised he doesn’t react to a little eccentricity.

“You’re the girl the Beast let go huh?” he says, something calculating in his gaze making her uncomfortable.

“Yes,” she says, takes the bottle from her hoodie, and sprays him. His head drops forward, body going pliant.

Casey finally removes the mask, glances up at the Joseph’s dad -- the Overseer, David -- before looking back to Miss Patricia’s bemused expression, and says, “Come on then, while Mrs. Price is bothering Dr. Staple.”

They pass the three unconscious men and when they’re at the entrance Casey opens the van’s doors and climbs in. Joseph’s dad and Dennis -- who takes over just to look at her in a very slow meaningful way as if to say ‘_ I can’t believe you’ve done that _’ -- collaborate in lifting Mr. Glass and his wheelchair up into the van behind her.

Once they’re all settled in the back, Casey slaps the metal walls and says, “Go.” Joseph does.

#### -

A few tense seconds pass where they keep quiet before Joseph says, “We’re clear of the hospital.”

Casey sighs and lets herself slide down the side of the van to sit on the floor. Dennis only considers it a moment -- with the wheelchair separating him from the Overseer there’s little other space to occupy -- before he sits himself down next to her.

“You, actually got us out,” Dennis says, rubbing the back of his head but relief evident in his voice.

“I did say,” she replies.

He shakes his head, and as he does so, Miss Patricia takes over the light. She smiles at Casey, for the first time, honestly. Then her face shifts and it’s Hedwig. “Holy shit you actually did you! You were so badass too. The Beast is angry tho he’s-- oh.”

She can see Hedwig throwing his head back, bumping it into the metal, then convulsing forward, trembling, so she hurries to straddle him for when the Beast comes, and he comes, he can only see her.

The glower threatens to freeze her blood. Casey expects the Beast to buck his hips, throw her off of him, maybe pin her, press his teeth to her throat. But, to her surprise, he only lays, body tense, suspended in the moment.

“That man said he believed,” the Beast growles. “He wanted vengeance. We could have been shown to the world!”

“No. You would have killed random people and been killed yourself. They would have buried the footage. But we found another way.” She takes one of his hands, tense as it is, next to his thigh. “Joseph and I copied everything from Dr. Staple’s laptop -- she’s part of the organisation Clover. We have lists of people they will target, those like you and I, and Joseph’s dad. We also have lists of who they killed. Ten thousand. We are not alone.”

She hears a shaky exhale and a soft, “Jesus Christ,” from the back of the van.

“We know where they’ll meet, and we will know some of their faces. We will know when Dr. Staple puts anything on her computer now, on her phone, her mails. We’ll have eyes. To keep us safe. And we have information to dismantle them.”

“But I will prove that--”

“When we know it’s safe, you and I, and others, will come to the light. We will be known.”

Her voice trembles with the power of belief.

The Beast considers her for a very long moment. Then he tugs her by the chin with his free hand. “You are glorious.”

It’s a strange compliment coming from a strange being that she should not feel proud of and yet, pride still swells in her. To be acknowledged, after all, is to be seen. The Beast has been looking at her this whole time.

The Beast mellows into something else, someone else, body unlocking and his face growing bright, thankful. Casey’s heart speed up into a gallop. Kevin.

“I don’t deserve you,” he says, fingers curling tight around hers, as if telling her to stay anyway. She smiles, laugher trapped somewhere in the back of her neck, as Kevin takes her other hand as well into his, warm and steady.

“You wanted me to kill you.”

“You actually tried,” he says, and laughs.

“Not you,” she says. “I like _ you _.”

She watches, fascinated, as Kevin flushes, and at once, he shifts into Barry.

“Baby girl, you can’t talk sweet like that,” he says. “We’ll melt all over you.”

The Overseer finally pitches in, saying, “I think salt bae was easier than this.”

From the front, Joseph laughs.

#### -

They change cars two times until they finally come to a warehouse on the other side of the town where a van and a car wait for them. Joseph really outdid himself this time. Just like he promised, all her bags are stacked in the back seat of the car along with a small mountain of clothes. There should be a couple of hunting rifles at the bottom, food, water, sleeping bags in the trunk. They’re heading north-east, deeper into the Pennsylvania’s wilderness, where she selected a safehouse. It’s not far from where she and her father used to go hunting. They can hunt for food, and there’s a small town nearby. There shouldn’t be anyone from Clover there. For now, at least, it’s the safest place to be.

Barry, perhaps in an expected fashion, exclaims and very nearly rips the doors open to get to the clothes.

“Thank _ fuck _,” he sighs, pushing on some kind of tanktop and rather unselfconsicously taking his pants off.

Casey looks away and focuses on saying goodbye to Joseph and his dad who hovers behind his shoulder, still looking stiff and uncertain.

“You’ll be alright, right?” Joseph asks. “I mean. I know you can handle him now but. You know.”

She smiles, amused. “I’ll be alright. Thank you Joseph.”

He nods. There’s an awkward moment where he starts lifting his hands up in a motion that clearly signals a request for a hug but Casey intercepts him, lifting her hand up so he can shake it. Understanding, Joseph nods and takes her hand.

“Hopefully you won’t be seeing me anytime soon,” Joseph says.

“Only one way to find out.”

Joseph’s father frowns and Casey can only imagine what Barry is doing behind her. Unlike Dennis and Patricia, she has yet to get to know him and his peculiarities, and learn how to handle them.

“Are you sure about this?” David asks after Casey drops Joseph’s hand. He looks tired in a way only a person who has been tired for years can look.

“Mr. Dunn, everything I did was for this. I am sure.”

Joseph half turns to his father and says, “I’ll explain when we’re somewhere safer. Casey’s-- ah -- done this a couple of times.”

“Maybe instead of trying to fist fight with the Beast you might consider taking on something more challenging. The Clover, perhaps. If you ask, Mr. Glass might help. Heroes and villains teaming up isn’t uncommon in the comics, after all.”

David looks at her for a long minute before inclining his head. “Maybe.”

She looks at Joseph. In every iteration of the loop, David ended up promising to help in the end, once Joseph made his case. She knows it won’t be any different this time.

Casey steps back and turns only to startle when she bumps into Barry, who easily maneuvers himself into wrapping a hand around her shoulder. “You ready, sweetheart?”

Casey nods and Barry looks up saying, “Miss Patricia says I should thank you so. Thank you.”

Casey can see that doesn’t lay particularly well on David’s shoulders but she doesn’t care. What’s more important is that she slides into the co-driver’s seat, buckles herself up, and that Barry gets into the driver’s seat -- free to leave. Casey notes he has his beanie on. He looks like one of the guys that wait in line for a ten dollar coffee.

“Where are we going, baby girl?” he asks, starting up the engine. She looks into the side view mirror and watches Joseph and his father looking at them.

“Driftwood,” she says. “Deep into the Elk Country. There’s a lot of forest.”

Barry very nearly whines. “If you haven’t noticed I’m not exactly an outdoors type.”

“You’ll be hunted down both by police and Clover. Until things settle down, we should lay low. Then we can move. Maybe, we can go to Colorado, later.”

Barry groans. Then, he’s no longer Barry. Practical, Dennis drives out of the warehouse first, priorities clear. In the side view mirror Casey can see Joseph waving before turning to his father and the two of them turning to the van. They’ll get Mr. Glass home. She’s sure, either way, she’ll be talking with Joseph soon -- he’ll want to report progress. Casey didn’t expect to find a friend in him but she’s glad she did.

Finally, Dennis breaks the silence, saying, “There was too much killing I couldn’t-- I didn’t want--” He trails off, knuckles white on the steering wheel. Quietly, he says, “I was born to protect Kevin. I’ve always tried. I thought with the Beast, he would--”

He looks pained, so Casey sighs and touches his shoulder. “I know, Dennis.”

His frown is evident when he turns to her and asks, “How?”

“You said the same thing last time too.”

Dennis’ eyes widen. “When you said you watched us die you meant it.”

“Yes, I meant it. I-- watched you-- watched Kevin die so many times. So, please, mind the road. I don’t want to do this again.”

“Easy for you to say,” he grumbles. “My eyesight is bad.”

She hands him his glasses. Shocked, he takes them and puts them on. He looks as if he wants to say something, but in the end settles on, “Driftwood, you say.”

It doesn’t matter. Casey supposes she will have time to get to know all twenty-four of them later.

#### -

It’s a four hour drive. The dawn’s cracking when they finally drive into Driftwood, and it takes them half an hour of walking to get to the lodge having carried all of their things in one trip. Even in the half light the outline of it is clear with how it looms next to the cedars; the lodge is large, clearly meant to house a thousand-pound meat moose carcasses and a group of hunters. There’s running water, and an electricity generator. God bless America.

Casey turns on the light and finally slumps on one of the sofas while Dennis very nearly _ runs _ to scrub himself clean, dress, and proceed to have a near-breakdown about dirt in the clearly un-aired cabin until Hedwig takes over.

“This place sucks,” he says, but laughs so it must not be too bad. Then his eyes widen and he says, “Oh, he wants-- he wants out.”

She watches, slowly, as Kevin emerges. He smiles at her, and she smiles at him, and, awkwardly, she offers her hand which he takes and they sit on the lumpy sofa.

“I heard the others talking. About what you did. You’ll have to explain a little bit later,” he says softly. “You look tired.”

“It’s five in the morning.”

“Then you should sleep.”

She shakes her head.

“I--”

Casey sighs and closes her eyes. The loop is still not over. Not until the end of the day today. So many things can still go wrong; she’s never managed to get here, to actually feel like she’s winning.

“--worry. About Clover. About them finding us.”

“When will we be safe?”

She smiles. “Joseph said that he and his dad should be taking on that project. Mr. Glass might help them -- his mind could use stretching.”

Kevin smiles, gentle and warm, and somehow heartbreaking all at once.

“Comic books, huh. They were my escape once. Didn’t think they’d also be reality.” He considers their clasped hands. “Where do you think we fit?”

She shrugs. She doesn’t know. She won’t always have all the answers.

Kevin considers this, but decides to push. “Well what would you like?”

“I would like us to be those secondary characters that main characters go to for help sometimes. You know, those people nobody bothers, but who always survive whatevers thrown at them.”

“A lot to work on that,” Kevin says.

“I would also like to get to know you,” she continues, leaning into the space between them. “I want you to be safe. I want to continue being your friend.”

“You’re my friend?” he asks, genuinely shocked. The realization dawns on slowly.

Casey doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry so she does neither. She simply holds his hands and says, “Yes I am.”

“Oh,” he says. His expression changes into something tentative. Something new. “I think...I’ll be holding onto the light a little longer then.”

She smiles. That’s a start.

#### -

Her phone alarm goes off and she startles awake. There’s a strange scent in the air, like bad perfume brought to a boil and left out to sit, wafting unpleasant sharpness until she is forced to seek the source out. The blankets on top of her are heavy. That should have been the first sign.

Casey pokes her head from under them and notes that she isn’t in her room. Relief floods her veins as she grabs for her phone to check the time and date, just to be sure. She sighs, but the scent assaults her once more.

When she focuses she can see Dennis in the distance -- button up shirt tucked neatly into his pants, yellow gloves, a dust mask over his face -- with an assortment of chemicals, cleaning. Kevin and she fell asleep in what’s considered the living room, too tired to hunt for sheets.

She has one unread message from Joseph.

Casey sighs again, relief intoxicating. On the coffee table next to her head is a steaming mug of tea and a small plate of some kind of dessert. She takes the mug and sips the tea. When she turns back, Dennis has climbed down from his ladder and walked halfway across the room.

“Ok?” he asks. A multitude of moments spawn just in that sentence. It’s a promise. It’s a start.

“Ok,” Casey replies. It will be, anyway.

#### -


End file.
